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Wednesday, September 07, 2011

While attending the VidaVegan Conference, non-raw vegans like me were intrigued by – and came to love – the raw chia pudding that graced our daily breakfast buffet. Its subtle sweetness and gooey consistency imparted the same satisfying comfort as the tapioca pudding my Babci [grandma] made for me as a kid. So of course, I had to recreate it at home. Amber of Almost Vegan kindly tweeted me some inspiration – the base recipe for raw chia pudding: 2 T chia seeds and 1 cup of almond milk.

When I gave my food writing makeover seminar at the conference, I had challenged bloggers to infuse their writing with their own distinct personality and style and to invent new words if they can't find the right ones. The same is true of recipes, mine or anyone else's; recipes are not rules – they are merely starting blocks. Food, like language, is fluid, continually evolving and changing.

What is my personality? Curious, loud and opinionated. Drawn to colorful people, places, clothes and flavors. That said, although the quiet flavor of basic chia pudding pleased me, my personality itched to impart the base with "louder" flavors, like chocolate and cinnamon. And so, another recipe was born. Take it where you will...

This sounds great, and I really want to try this stuff, but I'm a little confused on the chia-to-milk proportions: your recipe has 2T to 1 cup, another I saw has 1/4 cup (4T) to 1 cup, and Choosing Raw has it at about 1/2 cup to 1 cup. The last appears to take only 30 minutes or so, others list overnight soaking, and so on. Are there different chia seeds that require different proportions, or is it just a matter of how thick you want the pudding and/or how long you have to soak the seeds?

Also, while all the recipes call for almond milk (I'm assuming because it's more raw-friendly) if I have rice milk on hand will that work as a sub (understanding that it's no longer raw at that point?)

I love chia seed pudding.. I discovered it just a few weeks ago and I make different versions. Sometimes I include cinnamon because it's rich in iron... I bet it'd be good too with raisins, soaked overnight.